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Heidelberg - 07-22-2018

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Hamilton masters the rain in Germany

On Saturday it looked as it was all over for Hamilton as he had to stop with a technical issue, gaining a modest 14th grid spot as his main championship rival Vettel took pole.

Come race day and Vettel started perfectly, controlling the race from Bottas and Raikkonen, while Hamilton swiftly made progress up to fifth position, behind Max Verstappen.

Despite slightly different strategies, this could have well be the race outcome, but it started to rain in some parts of the track with 20 laps to go, not enough to prompt a tyre change for the leaders though.

On the tricky conditions, Vettel crashed his Ferrari entering the Motodrom on the 52nd lap while leading: the Safety Car was deployed and Hamilton mastered the wet/dry conditions, taking the lead when Bottas and Raikkonen pitted as they were on worn tyres.

A big blow for Vettel, who leaves his home race trailing Hamilton by 17 points in the standings.

Key moment: Vettel crashing out from the lead on lap 52

Numbers from the F.1 race

2002 – Charles Leclerc is the first driver who takes a Sauber car in the top-10 grid spots in Hockenheim since 2002 (Nick Heidfeld, 10th).

1993 – Mercedes is the first team with three consecutive wins in Hockenheim (2014-2016-2018) since 1991-1992-1993 (Williams).

270 – Hamilton gave Great Britain their 270th F.1 win.

200 – Bottas and Raikkonen scored the 199th and 200th podium for Finland in F.1.

125 – Lewis Hamilton scored his 125th career podium in Hockenheim.

98 – 98th career podium for Kimi Raikkonen: for the first time since 2009 (Hungary-Italy) he nailed four consecutive podiums.

66-44 – This was the 66th career win for Hamilton, the 44th since he started using the number 44.

80 – 80th F.1 win for Mercedes.

55 – Vettel recorded his 55th career pole, his 10th for Ferrari.

27 – 27th career podium for Valtteri Bottas: he equalled Bruce McLaren and Ralf Schumacher at the 35th all-time spot.

11 – In F.1 history only 11 races have been won from 14th on the grid –Hamilton starting spot in Germany- or lower. (Indy excluded)

5x5 – This is the fifth season with at least 5 pole positions for Sebastian Vettel after the four years of his World Championships (2010-2013).

1 – This was the 42nd 1-2 for Mercedes, but just the first in the German Grand Prix.

1 – For the first time in his career, Hamilton won without starting from the first three rows of the starting grid.